Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) the record monthly trade surplus in May 2019; and

(b) that the five largest monthly trade surpluses have all been this year;

(2) acknowledges that trade supports one in five jobs in Australia; and

(3) calls on Members to vote in support of important trade agreements with Indonesia, Peru and Hong Kong when they come before the House, thereby providing further export opportunities for our farmers and small and family businesses.

Well, we're back in surplus. We've maintained our AAA credit rating. We are growing faster than any country in the OECD bar, of course, the United States. We have 27 years of continuous economic growth, a $100 billion infrastructure plan, record spending on health and education and the single largest recapitalisation program in the history of the Australian Defence Force. The stats just keep on going, but the question has to be asked: how are we doing this? How are we continuing to outpace others internationally, and how do we continue to fund record spends on vital public services, infrastructure and defence? The answer obviously lies in a strong economy, which, of course, is the means by which we deliver these things and not the endgame itself.

One of the key points of our strong economy is the fact that we are an open liberal democracy, highly integrated with the international global marketplace—a bold country that is prepared to trade with and invest in our neighbours. In recent years, as most people know, we have concluded free trade agreements with some of the biggest players in our region: China, Japan and Korea. Of course, Australia was also instrumental in ensuring that the TPP-11 deal was concluded. As it stands, about 70 per cent of our trade now is with countries with whom we have a free trade agreement, and this is wonderful news.

But the reason I stand today, as reflected in the terms of this motion, is to celebrate the fact that in May this year we had the greatest results in our history when it came to our monthly trade surplus, at $5.7 billion. What's more—what members of the chamber here might be interested in—is that the highest performing five months of trade surpluses were all in this year. In 2018, we had record exports of $438 billion. So trade has contributed around a quarter of Australia's economic growth over the past five years. These are all very big statistics and big figures, but it translates into opportunities for businesses and jobs. Fifty-three thousand businesses in Australia—small, medium and large—export to the world. With that, of course, come countless jobs and opportunities, and that is why this record result with our trade surplus is so vitally important.

Behind that, of course, lie human stories. I know this from personal experience. My first job internationally was as a teenager working in greater China, selling Australian wheat flour. I knew that every bag of wheat flour I would sell would actually be transacted through someone in an office in Wooloowin, in Brisbane. The wheat flour would be customised to that marketplace by people at Acacia Ridge, and it would come out of a mill in Albion. It would be good, hardworking Australians and their families who would win every single time I'd sell a bag of wheat flour.

This is what it's all about. We have thousands of Australians exporting our products and generating jobs because Australians, in our DNA, know that we have something unique. It is why we punch above our weight. It is why we are the most innovative free market economy in the world despite our relatively small size. It's also why, as much as I'm proud of those big free trade agreements—particularly with Japan, China and Korea—I encourage members of this chamber to support other free trade agreements as they come before the House, including, of course, with Peru, Indonesia and Hong Kong, which are on their way, and as we continue to prosecute the case of Latin American FTAs and FTAs with Europe.

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